A newly restored version of one of the great classics of movie eroticism is now at the Music Box: Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings 1930's "The Blue Angel." Jannings was regarded as the best film actor of his day when he returned to Germany from Hollywood and was reduced to jelly by 29-year-old Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg's erotic movie classic. Jannings plays tyrannical college professor Immanuel Rath and Dietrich is lusty Lola-Lola, the chanteuse whose fatal sexiness turns Rath (literally) into a clown. Sternberg creates glowing visuals that give the movie such pungency you can almost smell the reek of the "Blue Angel" cabaret; the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave.; $8.50; 773-871-6604.

"Dreams and Disillusion: Karel Teige and the Czech Avant-Garde," a 30-year retrospective for a leading figure of European modernism, opens Thursday at the Smart Museum, 5550 S. Greenwood Ave.; free; 773-702-8670.

NEW ARTISTS

"12 x 12: New Artists/New Work," a new series of monthly shows for younger artists in Chicago begins with works by Laura Mosquera, opens Friday at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave.; $10; 312-280-2660.

`A NATION'S CONSCIENCE'

"A Nation's Conscience: Paintings by William Gropper," an introduction to the American artist through 30 paintings and 10 cartoon reproductions, opens Saturday at the Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St.; free; 312-663-5554.

The city's flagship chamber music collective kicks off its 15th anniversary season with a typically diverse program of works by Honegger, J.S. Bach, Wagner and the season's featured composer, the neglected modern master Paul Hindemith. And CCM is offering all 15-year-olds free admission; 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Northwestern University, Evanston, and 7:30 p.m. Monday at DePaul University Concert Hall, 800 W. Belden St.; $8-$28; 312-225-5226.

`STREET SCENE'

Kurt Weill's Broadway opera, about love and death in a 1940s New York tenement, has its Lyric Opera premiere in David Pountney's acclaimed production from the English National Opera, starring Catherine Malfitano; opens at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and runs through Nov. 3 at the Civic Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive; $29 to $145; 312-332-2244.

LUC FERRARI

The 72-year-old French composer and eminence grise of electronic music in the 1950s and, in more recent years, innovative sound installations, makes his Chicago debut in two programs of his works performed by Chicago's Ensemble Noamnesia and guest musicians, presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art in conjunction with Sound Field 2001; 8 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Oct. 7 at the MCA Theater, 220 E. Chicago Ave.; $14-$18; 312-397-4010.

-- John von Rhein

ROCK

MIKE WATT

One of the godfathers of indie-rock, ex-Minutemen bassist Mike Watt, is back with a trio that blends jazz improvisation with hard-rock might; Sunday at Double Door, 1572 N. Milwaukee Ave.; $12; 773-489-3160.

GUESS WHO

Founding members Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings reunite one of Canada's most successful top-40 bands, in the wake of Lenny Kravitz's hit version of their 1970 smash "American Woman"; Monday at Rosemont Theatre, 5400 N. River Rd., Rosemont; $50-$75; 847-671-5100.

Opening for Guided By Voices at the Empty Bottle last winter, this leather-jacketed New York City quartet won over a skeptical audience. Their forthcoming album wouldn't have sounded out of place in the early New Wave days of Television and Johnny Thunders; Friday at Metro, 3730 N. Clark St.; $10; 773-549-0203.

DAVE EDMUNDS

Veteran Welsh pub-rocker on a rare tour, this time as a solo performer; Saturday at the Abbey, 3420 W. Grace St.; $15; 773-463-5808.

-- Greg Kot

THEATER

`ARCADIA'

Tom Stoppard's time-traveling philosophical comedy, given a modest production of energy and clarity by The Hypocrites; through Oct. 14 at The Viaduct, 3111 N. Western Ave.; $12-$15; 312-409-5578.

`CHAGRIN FALLS'

Small, exceedingly well-crafted premiere of Mia McCullough's lively, well-written script on the pall of death hanging over a sleepy bar in an isolated Oklahoma town; through Nov. 3 at Stage Left Theatre, 3408 N. Sheffield Ave.; $15-$20; 773-883-8830.

`EMBRYOS ON ICE'

The Second City's 87th satirical revue presents a crackerjack cast offering a welcome rush of laughter on topics ranging from George Washington quarters to United States census figures; continuing at 1616 N. Wells St.; $17; 312-337-3992.

`MARY STUART'

Director JoAnne Akalitis' strikingly designed and vividly enacted rendition of Friedrich Schiller's drama of 1800, in which Diet Coke and hissable villains are successfully folded into the 16th Century clash of wills between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots; through Oct. 14 at Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave.; $28-$40; 773-753-4472.

`MISS SAIGON'

The epic musical, scaled down but still spectacularly presented on an arena stage swarming with theatrical invention and melodramatic passion; through Nov. 4 at Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire; $33-$38; 847-634-0200.